Early in the morning on November 14, 2023, a tragic crash happened on I-70 near Etna, Ohio, involving a semi truck, two passenger vehicles, another truck, and a charter bus carrying school kids.
The details: The crash started when a westbound truck, operated by Mid-State Systems, Inc., failed to slow down for traffic stopped after an earlier minor wreck. This set off a chain-reaction crash and a fire that hit multiple vehicles.
- Three young students on the bus died, along with three people in a passenger car.
- More than 40 others were hurt in the crash.
What led to the crash: Federal investigators said the main issue was the truck driver not noticing the slowed traffic and not responding in time. There were also problems like poor traffic management and not enough information given to other drivers about traffic conditions. The semi also did not have a driver monitoring system that could have possibly helped prevent the wreck.
Because of this crash, the NTSB shared several new safety recommendations, including upgrades for collision avoidance tech, better driver monitoring in trucks, and stronger fire standards for buses—according to the NTSB press release.
The truck driver, Jacob McDonald, was found guilty on six counts of vehicular homicide and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.